Fissures in NDA, JD(U) may opt out

There seems to be no end to the woes of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as their 17-year-old alliance with the Janata Dal (United) seems to be heading towards a split over Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s elevation as the chairman of the party’s campaign committee. Wednesday saw veteran BJP leader LK Advani stepping in to diffuse the crisis.

Advani spoke to both Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav during the day. Sources said Advani tried to impress on the need for the NDA to stay united to fight the Lok Sabha elections. However, sources in the JD(U) said that parting of ways is almost certain as the party believes it is only a matter of time before the BJP names Modi the PM candidate, an issue on which JD(U) has expressed serious reservations. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has already held the first round of consultations with party president Sharad Yadav and senior ministers of his government and the party is coming around to the view that continuing the alliance has become untenable.

‘When Modi has been made campaign committee chief and the command of election has been handed over to him, will somebody else be declared the PM candidate if BJP performs well?

Now declaring Modi a PM candidate of BJP is only a technical thing,’ a senior leader in JD-U said. The JD-U leadership in Bihar has, in fact, asked its MLAs and MLCs to be present here on 14 and 15 June to decide the fate of the alliance with the BJP.